It’s that time again, when we hold our presidential elections. This is the season when many churches forget about their spiritual obligations and take a political stand. Whenever a presidential election is on the horizon, all of a sudden, churches begin to inform their members to ‘vote the Bible.’ One should not ‘vote the Bible’ every four years. One should ‘live the Bible’ on a daily basis. Regardless to who win the election, it will not significantly change your life. Your life is determined by the decisions you make on a daily basis, not by a vote every four years.
The thing that really strikes me as odd, it that, usually the only elections, that churches urge their members to ‘vote the Bible’ is presidential elections. Presidents do not make laws. Their job description is to support or uphold the laws of the land. The question is, who make the laws. It certainly isn’t the president. It is state, local, and federal congressmen that formulate the laws of the land. Once the laws are legislated, the people can then challenge them. Once challenged, a judge or panel of judges gets to uphold the law or declare it unconstitutional. The president is far removed from the legislative process. In every presidential election, churches remind their members to ‘vote the Bible’, but you rarely hear them make that statement when a congressman or a judge is running for election. Shouldn’t more focus actually be on congressmen and judges, rather than the president?
Actually, churches and church leaders do not scrutinize their day-to-day associations with the same vigor that they apply to presidential elections. When it comes right down to it, it doesn’t matter to them, if their lawyer is a homosexual as long as he wins their case. It doesn’t matter if their doctor had or performed an abortion, so long as she is a renowned specialist. It doesn’t matter if their dentist is having an affair with his assistant, so long as he can eliminate the pain now.
The United States Constitution is based on separation of church and state. That seems to be the norm, until a presidential election is looming in the background.
Immediately, churches go into high gear trying to combine church and state by saturating religion with political issues. Churches should stay out of politics and politicians should stay out of religion.
The requirements for electing a president are different from the requirements for electing a religious leader. When electing a president, politics should be the top priority. When electing a religious leader, then the Bible should be the focal point. All too often, churches fail to realize that they are not electing a religious leader when voting in a presidential election. Presidents have to make some ungodly decision to provide for the welfare and wellbeing of the nation’s citizens. On the other hand, if churches would stick to their religious beliefs and pray according to the Bible, then that president, no matter who wins the election, will not have to make those ungodly decisions, because the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much, (Jas. 5:16).
